PVR Channel and PVR IPG Information

ABSTRACT

A system that maps media content information to an interactive program guide displayed on a screen includes, among other things, a memory with logic, and a processor configured with the logic to display at least one personal video recording display channel in the interactive program guide. The processor is further preferably configured with the logic to display media content instance listings in the personal video recording display channel for corresponding media content instance recordings.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a Divisional of co-pending U.S. application Ser. No.10/253,115 entitled “PVR Channel and PVR IPG Information” filed Sep. 24,2002, which is incorporated herein by reference.

This application is related to copending U.S. application Ser. No.09/827,470 entitled “System and Method for Providing User-Defined MediaPresentations,” filed on Apr. 6, 2001, which issued on Jul. 1, 2008 asU.S. Pat. No. 7,395,547, which is entirely incorporated herein byreference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention is generally related to television systems, and,more particularly, is related to personal video recording andinteractive program guides.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

With recent advances in digital transmission technology, subscribertelevision systems are now capable of providing much more than thetraditional analog broadcast video. In implementing enhancedprogramming, the home communication terminal device (“HCT”), otherwiseknown as the set-top box, has become an important computing device foraccessing media content services (and media content within thoseservices) and navigating a user through a maze of available services. Inaddition to supporting traditional analog broadcast video functionality,digital HCTs (or “DHCTs”) now also support an increasing number oftwo-way digital services such as video-on-demand and personal videorecording.

Typically, a DHCT is connected to a cable or satellite, or generally, asubscriber television system, and includes hardware and softwarenecessary to provide the functionality of the digital television systemat the user's site. Some of the software executed by a DHCT can bedownloaded and/or updated via the subscriber television system. EachDHCT also typically includes a processor, communication components, andmemory, and is connected to a television or other display device, suchas a personal computer. While many conventional DHCTs are stand-alonedevices that are externally connected to a television, a DHCT and/or itsfunctionality may be integrated into a television or personal computeror even an audio device such as a programmable radio, as will beappreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art.

DHCTs are typically capable of providing users with a very large numberand variety of media content choices. DHCTs equipped with personal videorecording functionality (e.g., via the use of a coupled storage device)provide the user with the opportunity to record favorite media contentand/or to record and subsequently view media content he or she wouldotherwise have missed due to, for example, scheduling conflicts. ManyDHCTs provide users with television program information via interactiveprogram guides (IPGs), which allow a user to scroll through and/orsearch available program information for broadcast and/or on-demandmedia content, but current mechanisms provide limited programinformation for recorded media content and are cumbersome to use.

Thus, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry to addressthe aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The preferred embodiments of the invention can be better understood withreference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings arenot necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearlyillustrating the principles of the present invention. Moreover, in thedrawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding partsthroughout the several views.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example subscriber television system(STS), in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example headend as depicted in FIG. 1and related equipment, in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 3A is a block diagram of an example DHCT as depicted in FIG. 1 andrelated equipment, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3B is a schematic diagram of an example remote control device toprovide input to the DHCT 16 illustrated in FIG. 3A, in accordance withone embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a screen diagram of an example interactive program guide (IPG)screen from which the user has selected a Johnny Bravo listing forpermanent recording, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a screen diagram of an example confirm recording screen fromwhich the user selects to record the episode of Johnny Bravo selectedfrom the example IPG screen of FIG. 4, in accordance with one embodimentof the invention.

FIG. 6 is a screen diagram of an example recording schedule screen thatresults from the user selecting to record the episode of Johnny Bravo inthe example confirm recording screen of FIG. 5, in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 7 is a screen diagram of an example IPG screen, prompted by theuser after the scheduled recording of the Johnny Bravo episode, thetitle of which is displayed in a Personal Video Recording (PVR) channel,in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 8 is a screen diagram of an example screen display of thepresentation of Johnny Bravo, prompted by the user selecting the JohnnyBravo episode in the IPG of FIG. 7, with a pause banner and playback baroverlaid on the display of Johnny Bravo, in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 9 is a screen diagram of an example IPG screen in which the userhas scrolled to a channel that includes a scheduled broadcastpresentation of Barney to record episodes of Barney, in accordance withone embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 10 is a screen diagram of an example confirm recording screenprompted by the user selecting to record the Barney episode from theexample IPG screen of FIG. 9, in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 11 is a screen diagram of an example recording schedule screenresulting from the user selecting to record all episodes of Barney fromthe example confirm recording screen of FIG. 10, in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 12 is a screen diagram of an example record options screenpresented to the user after selecting a record options button from theexample recording schedule screen of FIG. 11, in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 13 is a screen diagram of an example PVR channel configure menuscreen prompted by the user selecting to configure a PVR channel fromthe example record options screen of FIG. 12, in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 14 is a screen diagram of an example PVR channel configurationcategories screen prompted by the user selecting to configure a PVRchannel from the example PVR channel configure menu screen of FIG. 13,in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 15 is a screen diagram of an example PVR channel configure menuscreen that results from the user selecting to configure the PVR channelby the defaulted title, Barney, in FIG. 14, in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 16 is a screen diagram of an example IPG screen that is prompted bythe user after the scheduled recordings of the Barney episodes haveoccurred for one day and now have listings in the Barney channel, inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 17 is a screen diagram of an example user settings menu thatenables a user to configure one or more PVR channels, in accordance withone embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 18 is a screen diagram of an example PVR channel configure menuscreen presented to the user after selecting to configure a PVR channelfrom the example user settings menu in FIG. 17, in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 19 is a screen diagram of an example PVR channel configurationcategories screen from which the user seeks to configure a PVR channelby the category choice of time of recording, in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 20 is a screen diagram of an example PVR channel configurationcategories screen prompted by the user selecting the time of recordingcategory choice from the example screen shown in FIG. 19, in accordancewith one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 21 is a screen diagram of an example PVR channel configurationcategories screen resulting from the user selecting the relative timerecording time choice from the example screen shown in FIG. 20, inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 22 is a screen diagram of an example PVR channel configure menuscreen resulting from selecting a relative time of the past six hours inthe example screen shown in FIG. 21, in accordance with one embodimentof the invention.

FIG. 23 is a screen diagram of an example IPG screen that illustrateshow multiple, configured PVR channels are listed in the IPG, inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 24 is a screen diagram of an example PVR channel configure menuscreen from which the user seeks to configure another PVR channel, inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 25 is a screen diagram of an example PVR channel configurationcategories screen, in which the user seeks to configure a PVR channel bythe category choice of theme, in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 26 is a screen diagram of an example PVR channel configurationcategories screen that includes a news category that further refines thetheme category selection made in the example screen shown in FIG. 25, inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 27 is a screen diagram of an example PVR channel configure menuscreen that illustrates the newly configured News channel, in accordancewith one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 28 is a screen diagram of an example PVR channel configurationcategories screen from which the user seeks to configure another PVRchannel beginning with the theme category choice, in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 29 is a screen diagram of an example PVR channel configurationcategories screen that includes a sports theme category that furtherrefines the theme selection made in the example screen shown FIG. 28, inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 30 is a screen diagram of an example PVR channel configurationcategories screen that includes a college basketball option that furtherrefines the sports theme selection made in the example screen of FIG.29, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 31 is a screen diagram of an example PVR channel configure menuscreen that illustrates the newly configured college basketball channel,in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 32 is a screen diagram of an example PVR channel configurationcategories screen that the user has evoked to further refine the collegebasketball channel category using a keyword search, in accordance withone embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 33 is a screen diagram of an example PVR channel configurationcategories screen that provides the user with the ability to enter akeyword search to further refine the college basketball channelcategory, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 34 is a screen diagram of an example configuration query screenprompted by the user selecting the keyword entry in the example screenshown in FIG. 33, and which presents the user with a series of options,in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 35 is a screen diagram of an example PVR channel configure menuscreen that illustrates the newly configured Auburn basketball channel,in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 36 is a screen diagram of an example IPG screen prompted by theuser after the scheduled recordings to the newly configured PVR channelshave occurred, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 37 is a screen diagram of an example IPG screen that the user hasevoked by scrolling to the right of the highlighted listing shown in theexample screen shown in FIG. 36 in the Past Six Hours channel, inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 38 is a screen diagram of an example IPG screen that illustratesthe PVR buffer channels, in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 39 is a screen diagram of an example screen display of a BradyBunch episode selected for viewing from a PVR buffer channel in theexample IPG screen shown in FIG. 38, in accordance with one embodimentof the invention.

FIG. 40 is a screen diagram of an example record options screenresulting from the user selecting to permanently record the Brady Bunchepisode shown in FIG. 39, in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The preferred embodiments of the invention now will be described morefully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in whichpreferred embodiments of the invention are shown. One way ofunderstanding the preferred embodiments of the invention includesviewing them within the context of a subscriber television system, andmore particularly within the context of a media client device, such as adigital home communication terminal (DHCT), that provides for userinteraction with what is displayed on a television. Although othercommunication environments are considered to be within the scope of thepreferred embodiments, the preferred embodiments of the invention willbe described in the context of a DHCT that receives media content from aheadend over a subscriber network as one example implementation amongmany.

Because the preferred embodiments of the invention can be wellunderstood in the context of a subscriber television system environment,an initial description of a subscriber television system is followedwith further description of the headend and DHCT (and coupled storagedevice) that are included within the subscriber television system. Thepreferred embodiments of the invention include, among other things, asystem that displays information about media content recorded in thestorage device that is coupled to the DHCT. Following the description ofthe subscriber television system components is a description of aninteractive program guide (IPG), and how the preferred embodiments ofthe invention are used in the context of an IPG. The displayedinformation, or media content information, will preferably be manifestedin one or more display channels in an IPG. An IPG is typically presentedas a grid with rows of display channels and columns of time slots.Listings of current and scheduled media content instance presentations,preferably identified by title of a particular media content instance(e.g., TV episode, movie), are placed in the grid according to thescheduled presentation.

In the preferred embodiments, listings for the media content stored in astorage device coupled to the DHCT are presented in the IPG in asomewhat similar format to that used for broadcast media content. In onepreferred embodiment, broadcast media content that is recorded (eithertemporarily or permanently recorded, including scheduled recordings,live recordings, or recordings designated as permanent from a storagebuffer, among others) to the storage device automatically has thecorresponding title displayed in a personal video recording (PVR)channel in the IPG within a time slot that reflects the duration of therecorded presentation.

Following the description of how the preferred embodiments can be usedin an IPG is a description of how the preferred embodiments include aseries of user interface screens for configuring PVR channels in theIPG. These screens, as will be explained below, can be evoked during therecording process of the PVR functions of the DHCT and/or via a usersettings menu screen. In the preferred embodiments, the user canconfigure one or more PVR channels to reflect the type of media contentthat is recorded in the storage device. For example, assume the userdesires to record all Barney episodes for his or her child. The user canconfigure the DHCT PVR functionality to record all episodes of Barney tothe storage device. Also, the user can configure one of a plurality ofPVR channels in the IPG to not only be entitled the Barney Channel, butalso to display the titles of all of the recorded Barney episodes intothe newly configured Barney channel. Displaying the titles, or othermedia content information, of the recorded media content into PVRchannels in the IPG is herein referred to as channel mapping. Similarly,the user can configure other PVR channels based on the type ofdownloaded media content. For example, the user can configure a NewsChannel to channel map all of the instances of recorded newsprogramming. Further, the user can configure time-based channels, suchas a Last Night Channel to channel map all of the media content recordedfrom the prior evening, for example.

The preferred embodiments of the invention may, however, be embodied inmany different forms and should not be construed as limited to theembodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided sothat this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fullyconvey the scope of the invention to those having ordinary skill in theart. Furthermore, all “examples” given herein are intended to benon-limiting, and are provided as an exemplary list among many otherexamples contemplated but not shown.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram depicting a non-limiting example of asubscriber television system (STS) 10. In this example, the STS 10includes a headend 11 and a digital home communication terminal (DHCT)16 that are coupled via a communications network 18. It will beappreciated that the STS 10 shown in FIG. 1 is merely illustrative andshould not be construed as implying any limitations upon the scope ofthe preferred embodiments of the invention. For example, although singlecomponents (e.g., a headend and a DHCT) are illustrated in FIG. 1, theSTS 10 can feature a plurality of any one of the illustrated components,or may be configured with alternative embodiments for any one of theindividual components or with yet other additional components notenumerated above. Subscriber television systems also included within thescope of the preferred embodiments of the invention include systems notutilizing physical structured cabling for transmission, such as, but notlimited to, satellite systems.

A DHCT 16 is typically situated at the residence or place of business ofa user and may be a stand-alone unit or integrated into another devicesuch as, for example, a television set or a personal computer or otherdisplay devices, or an audio device. The customer's premises may be auser's residence or place of business. The DHCT 16 receives signals(video, audio and/or other data) from the headend 11 through the network18 and provides any reverse information to the headend 11 through thenetwork 18.

The headend 11 receives, among other data and/or media content, programguide data from a program guide information provider (not shown). Theprogram guide information (data) preferably comprises data correspondingto services that may be provided via the DHCT 16. The headend 11 editsthe program guide data and transmits the edited program guide data tothe DHCT 16 via the network 18. The headend 11 may include one or moreserver devices (not shown) for providing video and/or audio and/or datato media client devices such as the DHCT 16. The headend 11 and the DHCT16 cooperate to provide a user with television services via thetelevision (not shown). The television services may include, forexample, broadcast television services, cable television services,premium television services, video-on-demand (VOD) services, and/orpay-per-view (PPV) services, among others.

FIG. 2 depicts a non-limiting example of selected components of aheadend 11 that is configured in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention. It will be understood that the headend 11 shown inFIG. 2 is merely illustrative and should not be construed as implyingany limitations upon the scope of the preferred embodiments of theinvention. The headend 11 receives media content from a variety ofservice and content providers, which can provide input in a variety ofways. The headend 11 combines the media content from the various sourcesand distributes the media content to subscribers via the distributionsystems of the network 18. The input signals may be transmitted fromsources to the headend 11 via a variety of transmission paths, includingsatellites (not shown), and terrestrial broadcast transmitters andantennas (not shown).

A digital network control system (DNCS) 223 provides management,monitoring, and control of the network's elements and of the broadcastservices provided to users. A content provider such as a program guideinformation provider transmits data for television program guidesthrough a network interface 209 to the DNCS 223 of the headend 11,preferably using a file transfer protocol (FTP). The DNCS 223 includesfunctionality that defines relationships between channel names listed inthe program guide data received from the program guide provider and thenumbered channels that are available via the DHCT 16. This functionalityis used by the DNCS 223 to edit the program guide data to includechannel numbers that correspond to the listed channel names. After theprogram guide data is edited by the DNCS 223, it is transmitted to theDHCT 16 preferably using a broadcast file system (BFS) server 202. TheBFS server 202 and its counterpart, a BFS client module 343 in the DHCT16, are part of a file broadcasting system. The BFS server 202repeatedly sends data through a network interface 206 to the DHCT 16 viaa quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) modem 203 over a period of timein a cyclical manner so that the DHCT 16 may access the data as needed.Of course other mechanisms and techniques may be utilized to transferdata to the DHCT 16.

A quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modem 207 is responsible fortransporting out-of-band IP (internet protocol) datagram traffic betweenthe distribution headend 11 and a DHCT 16. Data transmitted or receivedby the QPSK modem 207 may be routed by a headend router 208. The headendrouter 208 may be used to deliver upstream data to the various serverapplications (not shown).

FIG. 3A is a block diagram illustration of an example DHCT 16 that iscoupled to a headend 11 and to a television 341, in accordance with oneembodiment of the invention. It will be understood that the DHCT 16shown in FIG. 3A is merely illustrative and should not be construed asimplying any limitations upon the scope of the preferred embodiments ofthe invention. For example, some of the functionality performed byapplications executed in the DHCT 16 (such as an MOD application 363)may instead be performed completely or in part at the headend 11 andvice versa, or not at all in some embodiments. The DHCT 16 preferablyincludes a communications interface 342 for receiving signals (video,audio and/or other data) from the headend 11 through the network 18 andfor providing any reverse information to the headend 11 through thenetwork 18.

The DHCT 16 preferably includes one or more processors, such asprocessor 344, for controlling operations of the DHCT 16, an outputsystem 348 for driving the television display 341, and at least onetuner system 345 for tuning into a particular television channel orfrequency to display media content and for sending and receiving varioustypes of data or media content to and from the headend 11. The DHCT 16may include, in other embodiments, multiple tuners for receivingdownloaded (or transmitted) media content. The tuner system 345 enablesthe DHCT 16 to tune to downstream media and data transmissions, therebyallowing a user to receive digital and/or analog media content deliveredin the downstream transmission via the subscriber television system. Thetuner system 345 includes, in one implementation, an out-of-band tunerfor bidirectional QPSK data communication and one or more QAM tuners (inband) for receiving television signals. Additionally, a receiver 346receives externally generated information, such as user inputs orcommands from an input device, such as remote control device 380, orother devices.

The DHCT 16 processes analog and/or digital transmission signals forstorage in the storage device 373, and/or for display to the television341. The DHCT 16 preferably includes a signal processing system 314 anda media engine 322. The components of the signal processing system 314are capable of QAM demodulation, forward error correction, anddemultiplexing MPEG-2 transport streams, and parsing elementary streamsand packetized elementary streams. Additional components, not shown,include an analog decoder and compression engine for processing ananalog transmission signal and, in one implementation, converting it tocompressed audio and video streams that are produced in accordance withthe syntax and semantics of a designated audio and video coding method,such as specified by the MPEG-2 audio and MPEG-2 video ISO(International Organization for Standardization or ISO) standard, amongothers.

The signal processing system 314 outputs packetized compressed streamsand presents them as input for storage in the storage device 373 via aninterface 375, or in other implementations, as input to a media engine322 for decompression by a video decompression engine (not shown) and anaudio decompression engine (not shown) for display on the TV 341. Onehaving ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the signalprocessing system 314 will preferably include other components notshown, including memory, decryptors, samplers, digitizers (e.g.,analog-to-digital converters), and multiplexers, among other components.Further, it will be understood that one or more of the components listedabove will interface with the processor 344 and/or system memory 349(and/or dedicated memory for a particular component), to facilitate datatransfer and/or processing of the video and/or audio signal for displayand/or storage.

One or more programmed software applications are executed by utilizingthe computing resources in the DHCT 16. Note that an applicationtypically includes a client part and a server counterpart that cooperateto provide the complete functionality of the application. Theapplications may be resident in FLASH memory 351 or downloaded (oruploaded) into DRAM 352. Applications stored in FLASH memory 351 or DRAM352 are executed by the processor 344 (e.g., a central processing unitor digital signal processor) under the auspices of the operating system353. Data required as input by an application is stored in DRAM 352 orFLASH memory 351 and read by the processor 344 as need be during thecourse of application execution. Input data may be data stored in DRAM352 by a secondary application or other source, either internal orexternal to the DHCT 16, or possibly anticipated by the application andthus created with the application at the time it was generated as asoftware application, in which case it is stored in FLASH memory 351.Data generated by an application is stored in DRAM 352 by the processor344 during the course of application execution. DRAM 352 also includesapplication memory 370 that various applications may use for storingand/or retrieving-data.

An application referred to as a navigator 355 is also resident in FLASHmemory 351 for providing a navigation framework for services provided bythe DHCT 16. The navigator 355 registers for and in some cases reservescertain user inputs related to navigational keys such as channelincrement/decrement, last channel, favorite channel, etc. The navigator355 also provides users with television related menu options thatcorrespond to DHCT functions such as, for example, blocking a channel ora group of channels from being displayed in a channel menu presented ona screen display.

The FLASH memory 351 also contains a platform library 356. The platformlibrary 356 is a collection of utilities useful to applications, such asa timer manager, a compression manager, a configuration manager, a hypertext markup language (HTML) parser, a database manager, a widgettoolkit, a string manager, and other utilities (not shown). Theseutilities are accessed by applications via application programminginterfaces (APIs) as necessary so that each application does not have tocontain these utilities. Two components of the platform library 356 thatare shown in FIG. 3A are a window manager 359 and a service applicationmanager (SAM) client 357.

The window manager 359 provides a mechanism for implementing the sharingof the screen regions and user input. The window manager 359 on the DHCT16 is responsible for, as directed by one or more applications,implementing the creation, display, and deallocation of the limited DHCT16 screen resources. It allows multiple applications to share the screenby assigning ownership of screen regions, or windows. The window manager359 communicates with the resource manager 367 to coordinate availableresources (such as display memory) among different resource consumingprocesses. Such processes may be directly or indirectly invoked by oneor more applications.

The SAM client 357 is a client component of a client-server pair ofcomponents, with the server component (not shown) being located on theheadend 11, preferably in the DNCS 323 (FIG. 2). A SAM database 360(i.e., structured data such as a database or data structure) in DRAM 352includes a data structure of services and a data structure of channelsthat are created and updated by the headend 11. Herein, database willrefer to a database, structured data or other data structures as is wellknown to those of ordinary skill in the art. Applications can also bedownloaded into DRAM 352 at the request of the SAM client 357, typicallyin response to a request by the user or in response to a message fromthe headend 11. In the example DHCT 16 illustrated in FIG. 3A, DRAM 352includes a media-on-demand (MOD) application 363, an e-mail application365, a PVR application 377, and a web browser application 366. It shouldbe clear to one with ordinary skill in the art that these applicationsare not limiting and merely serve as examples for embodiments of theinvention. Furthermore, one or more DRAM based applications may beresident, as an alternative embodiment, in FLASH memory 351. Theseapplications, and others provided by the subscriber television systemoperator, are top-level software entities on the network for providingservices to the user.

FLASH also includes a BFS client module 343 that is preferably residentin the operating system 353, and which cooperates with a servercounterpart (as described above) to provide a directory of modules suchas applications that are cyclically broadcast.

An executable program or algorithm corresponding to an operating system(OS) component, or to a client platform component, or to an application,or to respective parts thereof, can reside in and execute out of DRAM352 and/or FLASH memory 351. Likewise, data input into or output fromany executable program can reside in DRAM 352 or FLASH memory 351.Furthermore, an executable program or algorithm corresponding to anoperating system component, or to a client platform component, or to anapplication, or to respective parts thereof, can reside in FLASH memory351, or in a local storage device (such as storage device 373)externally connected to or integrated into the DHCT 16 and betransferred into DRAM 352 for execution. Likewise, data input for anexecutable program can reside in FLASH memory 351 or a storage deviceand be transferred into DRAM 352 for use by an executable program oralgorithm. In addition, data output by an executable program can bewritten into DRAM 352 by an executable program or algorithm and betransferred into FLASH memory 351 or into a storage device. In otherembodiments, the executable code is not transferred, but instead,functionality is effected by other mechanisms.

The DHCT 16 can also include one or more wireless or wired interfaces,also called communication ports 374, for receiving and/or transmittingdata to other devices. For instance, the DHCT 16 may feature USB(Universal Serial Bus), Ethernet (for connection to a computer),IEEE-1394 (for connection to media content devices in an entertainmentcenter), serial, and/or parallel ports. The user inputs may be, forexample, provided by an input device including a computer or transmitterwith buttons or keys located either on the exterior of the terminal orby a hand-held remote control device 380 or keyboard that includes useractuated buttons, or even aural input (e.g., voice activated).

The DHCT 16 includes at least one storage device 373 to provide storagefor downloaded media content. The storage device 373 can be an opticalstorage device or a magnetic storage device, among others, and ispreferably a hard disk drive. The storage device 373 comprises storagefor media content and/or data that can be written to for storage andlater read from for retrieval for presentation. The storage device 373preferably includes at least one hard disk 300. Throughout thisdisclosure, references relating to writing to or reading from thestorage device 373, or references regarding recordings from or to thestorage device 373 will be understood to mean that such read or writeoperations are occurring to the actual medium (for example, the harddisk 300) of the storage device 373. The storage device 373 is alsocomprised of a controller 379 that preferably receives operatinginstructions from the device driver 311 of the operating system 353 andimplements those instructions to cause read and/or write operations tothe hard disk 300.

The storage device 373 is preferably internal to the DHCT 16, coupled toa common bus through a communication interface 375, preferably anintegrated drive electronics (IDE) interface or small computer systeminterface (SCSI), although IEEE-1394 or USB can be used. In otherembodiments, the storage device 373 can be externally connected to (andthus removable from) the DHCT 16 via a communication port 374implemented as IEEE-1394 or USB or as a data interface port such as aSCSI or an IDE interface. In one implementation, under the auspices ofthe real-time operating system 353 and executed by the processor 344,and in coordination with the personal video recording (PVR) application377, the device driver 311, and the device controller 379, downloadedmedia content (herein understood to also refer to other types of data,in addition to, or instead of, media content instances) are received inthe DHCT 16 via the communications interface 342, processed as describedabove, and stored in a temporary cache (not shown) in memory 349. Thetemporary cache is implemented and managed to enable media contenttransfers from the temporary cache to the storage device 373, or, inconcert with the insertion of a newly arriving media content into thetemporary cache.

In one implementation, the processor 344, in communication generallywith the device driver 311 and the storage device controller 379 and thesignal processing system 314, effect retrieval of compressed videostreams, compressed audio streams, and data streams corresponding to oneor more media content instances from the storage device 373. Retrievedstreams are deposited in an output cache in the storage device 373 andtransferred to DRAM 352, and then processed for playback according tomechanisms well known to those having ordinary skill in the art. In someembodiments, one or more media content instances are retrieved androuted from the hard disk 300 to the media engine 322 for video andaudio decoding simultaneously, and then further processed for eventualpresentation on a display device or other device.

The PVR application 377 provides for media content recordingfunctionality by enabling the temporary writing to, and if requested,more permanent recording (i.e., relatively permanent) to the storagedevice 373. Media content can be transmitted (or downloaded) from aremote location, such as, for example, a remote server located in theheadend 11, or from a home communication network, or from consumerelectronic devices. Downloaded media content that is received at eachtuner of tuner system 345 is temporarily stored, or buffered, on thehard disk 300 of the storage device 373. The corresponding space on thehard disk 300 is called buffer space, or a time shift buffer (TSB) 378.In a preferred embodiment, each tuner in tuner system 345 has arespective TSB 378. Although one TSB 378 is shown, it will be understoodthat more TSBs can be used with multiple tuners. Note that buffering isunderstood to include temporarily storing media content, received from alocal attached device (e.g., a camera, etc.) and/or either fromreception of a broadcast digital channel or a digital compressed versionof a broadcast analog channel, and/or data, in the buffer space, or TSB378, of the storage device 373.

Under normal operation, the PVR application 377 effectively associates atemporary recording designation with the media content received into theTSB 378. The media content stored in the TSB 378 will either be deleted(i.e., the clusters storing the media content will be configured aswriteable for eventual write operations that overwrite the media contentwithin those clusters) or retained (through election by the user as oneexample) as a permanent recording. A permanent recording will beunderstood to include media content that is stored for an extendedperiod of time, for example as decided by the user. Permanent recordingscan be implemented by the user electing in advance to make a scheduledrecording of a media content instance that has not yet been tuned to atthe DHCT 16. A permanent recording can also be achieved by selecting amedia content instance stored in the TSB 378 and designating the mediacontent instance as permanent. Permanent recordings will preferably bemore permanent than media content in the TSB 378, and permanentrecordings can eventually be deleted from the disk space, typically atthe explicit request of a user, as one example. The PVR application 377maintains a data structure, or data record, for every downloaded mediacontent instance. This data structure is preferably maintained on thehard disk 300 of the storage device 373, but can be maintained in memory349 also.

The time shift buffer can be managed and implemented according toseveral mechanisms. Further information pertaining to creating andmaintaining the TSB 378, as well as information pertaining to theprocessing of incoming digital and/or analog transmission signals, canbe found in the applications entitled, “Controlling SubstantiallyConstant Buffer Capacity for Personal Video Recording with ConsistentUser Interface of Available Disk Space,” filed Dec. 6, 2001 underapplication Ser. No. 10/010,270, which issued on Jun. 14, 2011 as U.S.Pat. No. 7,962,011; “Converting Time-Shift Buffering for Personal VideoRecording Into Permanent Recordings,” filed Dec. 6, 2001 underapplication Ser. No. 10/008,624, which issued on Aug. 14, 2007 as U.S.Pat. No. 7,257,308; “Dividing and Managing Time-Shift Buffering intoProgram Specific Segments Based on Defined Durations,” filed Dec. 6,2001 under application Ser. No. 10/008,439, which published on Jun. 12,2003 as U.S. Publication No. 2003/0110504 A1; “Disk Driver ClusterManagement of Time Shift Buffer with File Allocation Table Structure,”filed Dec. 5, 2001 under application Ser. No. 10/005,628, which issuedon Mar. 20, 2007 as U.S. Pat. No. 7,194,563; and “Application Managementand Interface for Cluster Control of Time Shift Buffer,” filed Dec. 5,2001 under application Ser. No. 10/010,781, which issued on Jun. 23,2009 as U.S. Pat. No. 7,551,832, all assigned to Scientific Atlanta, andall herein entirely incorporated by reference.

As described above, the user preferably permanently records from the TSB378 by designating as permanent a currently viewed media contentinstance during real-time viewing or returning (e.g., rewinding) to anypart of a media content instance in the TSB 378 and selecting the recordbutton from a remote control device 380, or alternatively, fromselecting a record button (not shown) on the DHCT 16. In one preferredembodiment, the user can record from an IPG screen, as will be describedbelow. An example remote control device 380 to provide input to the DHCT16 is illustrated in FIG. 3B. Rewind 388 and fast-forward 387 buttonsenable a user to access buffered media content instances in the TSB 378.Record button 390 enables the user to designate as permanently recordedany media content instance buffered into the TSB 378, or to schedulerecordings. Pause button 391 or the stop button 393 enables the user topause a media content instance, or pause during a search for aparticular media content instance. Playback 392 enables the playback ofa media content instance. “A” 381 “B” 382, and “C” 383 buttons cancorrespond to certain application-defined functions that have acorresponding “A”, “B”, or “C” symbol displayed in a graphic userinterface (GUI) presented on a display device. List button 384 can beused to evoke various PVR user interface screens. The guide button 391may be used to access a television program guide such as, for example,an IPG screen. The information button 389 can be used to accessadditional information about a particular media content instance. Manyalternative methods of providing user input may be used including aremote control device with different buttons and/or button layouts, akeyboard device, a voice activated device, etc. The embodiments of theinvention described herein are not limited by the type of device used toprovide user input.

Referring again to FIG. 3A, the IPG application 394 displays a programguide to the user and populates the guide with information abouttelevision services. The IPG application 394 includes an IPG userinterface module 395 that creates an IPG for presentation to the user.The IPG user interface module 395 accesses configuration settings storedin an EPG configuration module 396 to implement an appropriateconfiguration for the IPG. The EPG configuration module 396 preferablyincludes a configuration database 397 for storing a plurality of IPGconfigurations. The IPG user interface module 395 populates the IPG withinformation contained in an IPG database 398. The IPG database 398contains data files corresponding to current and future services thatare or will be available via the DHCT 16 and/or other local devices.

Based on the configuration information stored in the IPG configurationmodule 396, the IPG user interface module 395 utilizes the windowmanager 359 and other graphics utilities provided by the operatingsystem 353 to render an IPG on the television 341. The window manager359 is a component that, in one embodiment, is part of the platform 356,but in other embodiments may be part of the operating system 353. Thewindow manager 359 contains functionality for allocating screen areasand managing screen use among multiple applications. The operatingsystem 353 provides primitives to the IPG user interface module 395 inorder to help render images on the television 341.

As a window is generated on a display device, the IPG user interfacemodule 395 registers with the window manager 359 for particular userinput commands that may be required for selecting options provided by anewly-created window. The EPG application 394 also contains a daemonapplication 399 that receives IPG data files transmitted by the headend11 and stores them in the IPG database 398 for utilization by the userinterface module 395. The PVR application 377 also includesfunctionality for searching for and retrieving from multiple sources ofPVR media content and/or data for storage in the IPG database 398. Suchsources include, for example, the storage device 373 or a navigatordatabase (not shown), or other pluggable database modules (not shown).

FIG. 4 depicts an example IPG screen 400 that illustrates an initialprogram guide arrangement in a time format. Other browse-by formats canbe presented to the user, including, browse-by theme, as one example.The example IPG screen 400 can be presented by the IPG application 394(FIG. 3A) in response to a user activating the guide key 391 (FIG. 3B),as one example. The IPG application 394 works in cooperation with thewindow manager 359 (FIG. 3A) to present a user with IPG screens that areformatted in accordance with IPG configuration data that is stored inconfiguration database 397 (FIG. 3A). Furthermore, an IPG application394 can retrieve media content instance listing information from the IPGdatabase 398 (FIG. 3A) as needed for presentation via an IPG screen. Thetop left portion of the IPG screen 400 is a detailed focus area 410 thatincludes detailed information for a currently highlighted media contentinstance listing which, in the current example, is the Johnny Bravolisting 420. The detailed media content instance listing information mayinclude display channel number, service name (e.g., Cartoon Network),media content instance listing title (e.g., Johnny Bravo), media contentinstance listing description, media content instance listing duration,and/or any episode information or rating, as well as recordinginformation for the PVR display channels, as is described below.

Video corresponding to the television service to which the DHCT 16 (FIG.3A) is currently tuned (for which audio may also be playing, and whichpreferably corresponds to a television presentation occupying the fullscreen before the user is presented with the IPG screen 400) isdisplayed in a video area 430. Immediately below the video area 430 isan information banner 440 for displaying the television display channelnumber corresponding to the service to which the DHCT 16 is currentlytuned (e.g., display channel 5), the current day and date (e.g.,Thursday, January 17), and the current time (e.g., 8:00 p.m.).

An IPG grid 465 includes a main media content instance listing displayarea 460, a time area 470, and a service identification area 480. Themedia content instance listing display area 460 contains listings ofservice instances that correspond to respective television servicesidentified in the service identification area 480 that are scheduled tobe available during the time periods listed in the time area 470. Eachmedia content instance listing is preferably formatted as a rectangle,or block, that has a length that depends on the duration of thescheduled presentation of the media content instance. The media contentinstance listing, such as the Johnny Bravo listing 420, includes anidentifier such as the title of the media content instance (e.g., JohnnyBravo), and can include other identifiers like parental control icons ordifferences in shading and/or color to represent differentfunctionality. The service identification area 480 includes, in oneimplementation, a vertical list of television services organizedsequentially from top to bottom by increasing television display channelnumber (except for the highest numbered television service which istypically listed immediately above the lowest numbered televisionservice). In one embodiment, the arrow buttons 386 of the remote controldevice 380 (FIG. 3B) can be used to scroll through the media contentinstance listing display area 460 to highlight a desired media contentinstance listing, such as the Johnny Bravo listing 420. As a userscrolls in time across a calendar day boundary, the day and dateindications displayed in various areas are updated.

In this non-limiting example, the left-most time column (i.e., under the8:00 time slot) in the media content instance listing display area 460includes the titles of media content instance listings, including thehighlighted Johnny Bravo listing 420, which is scheduled to be providedvia the Cartoon Network (i.e., Toonz on display channel number 201). Itshould be noted that the current media content instance listing shown invideo area 430 with corresponding information referenced in informationbanner 440, corresponds to the currently tuned television service(display channel number 5), and not to the service corresponding to thecurrently highlighted Johnny Bravo listing 420. The bottom area 450 ofthe IPG screen 400 indicates the selected day for which media contentinstance listing data is being displayed as well as information aboutthe current functions of the “A”, “B”, and “C” buttons on the remotecontrol device 380 (FIG. 3B).

In an alternative embodiment, the IPG screen 400 may have fewer,additional, and/or different components and may have a different layout.For example, the IPG screen 400 might not include one or more of adetailed focus area 410, a video area 430, an information banner 440,and/or a bottom area 450. The double arrow icons 462 indicate that agiven media content instance listing has a duration that expands beyondthe time period shown in the current IPG display screen, suggesting tothe user that the balance of the listing can be viewed in another IPGdisplay by selecting the right or left navigation arrow buttons 386 onthe remote control device 380 (FIG. 3B), depending on the direction ofthe double arrow icon 462. Note that the functions of highlighting,scrolling, and other navigation functions for interacting with aparticular screen involve selecting buttons on the remote control device380 that often correspond to symbols displayed on the screen. It will beunderstood that terminology that describes making selections on aparticular screen will be understood to include making the correspondingselections using a remote control device 380. Other input devicescontemplated to be within the scope of the preferred embodiments of theinvention include a touch screen, a mouse, an IR keyboard, among others.

In one preferred embodiment, the IPG application 394 (FIG. 3A) will beused in cooperation with the PVR application 377 (FIG. 3A) to providechannel mapping of media content stored in the storage device 373 (FIG.3A). More specifically, media content stored in buffer (e.g., TSB 378)and non-buffer space on the hard disk 300 (FIG. 3A) of the storagedevice 373 will have display channel listings in the IPG screen 400.Further, each individual display channel row for PVR content willpreferably be segmented into listings that are formatted as titledblocks, with the boundaries of each block preferably representing theduration of each recorded media content instance (wherein recorded mediacontent instance includes scheduled recordings, active recordings, andcompleted recordings) stored or scheduled to be stored in the storagedevice 373 (FIG. 3A). PVR channel mapping into an IPG screen can beimplemented through the use of a user settings menu (not shown), orduring the recording process from the IPG screen 400. For example,starting with the recording process implementation, the user canhighlight one of the media content instance listings in the mediacontent instance listing display area 460, and press the record button390 (FIG. 3B) on the remote control device 380 (FIG. 3B) to initiatepermanent recordings for the selected media content instance. Assume theuser has highlighted the Johnny Bravo listing 420, and selected therecord button 390. In response, the user will be presented with anexample confirm recording screen 500, as shown in FIG. 5.

The example confirm recording screen 500 includes a confirm recordingheader 505 to identify the screen 500. Also included is an informationarea 510, that includes the title of the media content instance (e.g.,Johnny Bravo), the date, time, display channel, and associated serviceof the scheduled presentation, as well as the default quality and thedefault start time, which in this case is from the beginning of thescheduled presentation. Note that the quality refers to the recordingquality level. In one implementation, there exists three recordingquality levels: good (with a video data rate of 3 MegaBytes per second),better (5 MegaBytes per second), and best (8 Megabytes per second).Other data rates and quality levels can also be used in otherembodiments. Also included is an information button icon, whichcorresponds to the information button 389 on the remote control device380 (FIG. 3B) to provide further media content instance information. Theconfirm recording screen 500 also includes an options block 520, whichincludes such options as the ability to record all episodes, to recordthis single episode, among other options shown and not shown. The userpreferably scrolls through these options in the options block 520 byusing the arrow buttons 386 (FIG. 3B) of the remote control device 380,as suggested by the navigation arrow icons 522. The blocks of the optionblock 520 preferably become highlighted as the user scrolls to theblock. The user can select one of the options of the option block 520 assuggested by the select button icon 524, which corresponds to the selectbutton 385 (FIG. 3B) on the remote control device 380. Also included isa bottom area 530, which includes a cancel button icon 532. Assume inthis example that the user desires to record this episode of JohnnyBravo, and does so by highlighting and selecting the “record thisepisode” option in the option block 520. This selection results in theuser being presented with an example recorded programs list screen 600,as shown in FIG. 6.

The example recording schedule screen 600 includes a recording scheduleheader 605, an information area 610, a list block 620, and a bottom area630. As shown, the information area 610 includes the title of theselected media content instance for recording, as well as default valuesfor the amount of days the media content instances will be saved (e.g.,for seven days). Other default values include the quality, which isshown here as “good,” as well as an information button icon as describedin respect to FIG. 5. Also note the open padlock icon, signifying aparental control feature that is not enabled (thus permitting a user toview the associated media content instance without the requirement forinputting a personal identification number). The list block 620 showsJohnny Bravo as one of the current scheduled recordings. As shown by thehighlighted block in the list block 620, Johnny Bravo is listed as anentry scheduled to be recorded on Thursday, the 17th of January, at 8:00p.m., with a duration of 30 minutes. Further note that the list block620 includes the select button icon 624 for making a selection andnavigation arrow icons 622 for scrolling to the next displayed entry, asdescribed in association with FIG. 5. Assume the user previouslyscheduled to record an Auburn basketball game on Saturday afternoon, aswell as the ABC news later that same afternoon. The bottom area 630includes two navigation button icons corresponding to the letterednavigation buttons 382 and 383 on the remote control device 380 (FIG.3B). The recorded programs list button icon 632, when selected, presentsthe user a list of recordings stored in the storage device 373 (FIG.3A). The record options button icon 634, presents the user with variousrecording options, including changing the default values of theinformation area 610. At this point, the user now has the Johnny Bravoepisode scheduled to be recorded into the storage device 373, along withother scheduled recordings.

FIG. 7 is a screen diagram of an example IPG screen 700 similar to theIPG screen 400 of FIG. 4, but with PVR channels shown. This screen 700can be evoked by the user through the selection of the guide button 391(FIG. 3B), as one example. FIG. 7 is used to illustrate how scheduledrecorded media content that has not been configured for a particular PVRchannel is automatically mapped to a miscellaneous, or default, PVRchannel (e.g., PVR channel 301). In other embodiments, all recordedmedia content, scheduled, configured for a particular PVR channel, orotherwise, can have a corresponding listing displayed in the default PVRchannel. Assume the user has evoked this screen 700 after the scheduledrecording times for Johnny Bravo have passed (e.g., it is now 11:10 p.m.on Thursday, as shown by the information banner 740), and that the userhas scrolled to the PVR channels. Note that in other embodiments, afterthe user has scheduled the recording in the confirm recording screen 500(FIG. 5), the listings for the scheduled media content instances can bedisplayed in the PVR channel in an IPG screen and be distinguished fromlistings corresponding to completed recordings, such as by a differentcolor, as one example. The user can configure this feature, for example,in a record options screen, or a general settings menu. The currentlydisplayed PVR channels 301 through 303 are shown in the serviceidentification area 780. As illustrated, Johnny Bravo is the recordedmedia content instance that has been automatically channel mapped intothe IPG screen 700, in accordance with one embodiment. The PVR channel301, in one implementation, can be a default, or miscellaneous, PVRchannel among the plurality of PVR channels for recorded media content.Note that the detailed focus area 710 preferably includes the time,date, and/or channel of the recording of the highlighted listing (e.g.,the Johnny Bravo listing).

In a preferred embodiment, the blocks representing the recorded mediacontent listings in the PVR channel 301 can be in synchronization withthe time periods illustrated in the time area 770. In other words, thePVR channel media content listings are preferably aligned along the timearea 770, having a similar appearance to the listings associated withbroadcast media content. For example, since Johnny Bravo is a half hourpresentation, its block boundaries in the IPG screen 700 are defined bythe column positioned between the beginning of the 11:00 p.m. time slotand the beginning of the 11:30 p.m. time slot illustrated in the timearea 770. In one implementation, because the media content instancelistings in the IPG screen 700 for PVR content are synchronized with thetime indicated in the time area 770, a user selecting Johnny Bravo forplayback at the current time of 11:10 p.m. will be positioned 10 minutesinto the presentation (i.e., ten minutes past the relative hour) ofJohnny Bravo. Thus, at the end of the presentation of a recorded mediacontent instance, the user can go to other display channels, forexample, broadcast channels, to view from the beginning of a scheduledpresentation of one of the broadcast media content. Further, scheduledlive broadcasts can be inserted into the PVR channel, as describedabove, providing the user the opportunity to view the presentation whileit is being recorded. In other embodiments, the user can choose to bepositioned at the beginning of the presentation of the selected mediacontent instance, regardless of what the current time is relative to thehour. This positioning can be user configurable via a user settingsmenu, as one example. Note that as time advances, as shown in the timearea 770, the relative positions of the media content listings withrespect to the boundaries of the media content instance listing displayarea 760 for the PVR channels remains the same in the IPG screen 700.For example, when the IPG screen 700 advances to 12:30 p.m., JohnnyBravo will still positioned relative to the hour, starting at theleft-most position of the IPG grid (i.e., the under the 12:30 column).An exception to this relative positioning occurs when scheduled mediacontent is inserted into the PVR channel, since the scheduled recordingswill preferably be tied to a set, or scheduled presentation time.

In other embodiments, the time area 770 can take on other forms andfunctionality. Unlike broadcast media content, PVR listings that areassociated with completed recordings can be viewed at any time. Thus,when a listing in a PVR channel is selected, the time area 770 can bealtered to reflect this selection and accessibility feature. Forexample, responsive to selecting a listing in a PVR channel, the timearea 770 can be grayed out. In another embodiment, the time area 770 candepict the duration in “seconds,” and/or “minutes,” and/or “hours” ofeach recorded media content instance. Other embodiments include nothaving a time area, or having a time area with index numberscorresponding to the number and/or the recorded sequence of the recordedmedia content, or a ticker banner, among others. The ticker banner caninclude a scrolling banner that is displayed to the user when he or shehas highlighted one of the listings for recorded media content instancesdisplayed in the PVR channels. In other embodiments, the time area canstill illustrate the current time increments by half an hour (as shownby the IPG screen 700), but have relevance only to broadcast mediacontent.

FIG. 8 is a screen diagram of an example display of the presentation ofJohnny Bravo after highlighting and selecting the Johnny Bravo listingfrom the IPG screen 700 (FIG. 7). As described above, the user hasselected Johnny Bravo ten minutes past the start of the presentation ofJohnny Bravo, and thus is placed ten minutes into the presentation, inone implementation. Overlaid on the presentation of Johnny Bravo is apause banner 802. The pause banner 802 can be evoked by pressing thepause button 391 on the remote control device 380 (FIG. 3B), as oneexample. The PVR application 377 (FIG. 3A) recognizes this keypressevent and subsequently, in cooperation with the operating system 353(FIG. 3A), causes the current picture frame to “freeze”. Further, thePVR application 377 generates the pause banner 802 and componentstherein based largely on the data maintained in a data structuremaintained by the PVR application 377. The pause banner 802 includesseveral descriptive elements, including a pause icon 804, and a playbackbar 806. The playback bar 806 represents both the scheduled presentationduration and the recorded duration of Johnny Bravo. Since Johnny Bravowas recorded in its entirety, the playback bar 806 will preferably havea uniform color, as indicated by the uniform hashing within the playbackbar 806.

If there was a portion of Johnny Bravo that was not recorded, theplayback bar 806 would preferably be divided into two distinct regions.For example, the unrecorded portion can be colored red, and the recordedportion can be colored green, as one example. Such a scenario can arisefor scheduled recordings (i.e., scheduled to be recorded in the future),and/or recordings that are in progress, as non-limiting examples. Itwould be understood, in the context of the detailed description, thatother mechanisms can exist to indicate the difference between unrecordedand recorded content including differences in gray shading, etc. Theplayback bar 806 also includes a playback position indicator 808. Asdescribed earlier, the user is positioned, in one implementation, in thepresentation of Johnny Bravo ten minutes past the start of the scheduledpresentation of Johnny Bravo. The playback position indicator 808reflects this relative position. The recorded length of Johnny Bravo isalso indicated in the recorded length area 810. The pause banner 802also includes a play button icon 812 and an options button icon 814. Theuser might select the options button icon 814, for example, to delete aselected recorded media content instance. Preferably, by selecting adelete option (not shown) in a screen prompted by the selection of theoptions button icon 814, the corresponding listing will also be removedfrom the IPG screen 700 (FIG. 7). The user can begin the playbackpresentation of Johnny Bravo by selecting the play button 392 on theremote control device 380 (FIG. 3B). The user can also choose to rewindto the beginning of Johnny Bravo, by selecting the rewind button 388 onthe remote control device 380. The options button icon 814 can beselected (i.e., via the remote control device 380) to choose various PVRoptions, such as creating a PVR channel, as will be described below.Further information on the playback bar 806 and the pause banner 802 canbe found in the patent application entitled, “Program Position UserInterface for Personal Video Recording Time Shift Buffer,” filed Dec.20, 2001 under application Ser. No. 10/034,028, which issued on Jun. 1,2004 as U.S. Pat. No. 6,744,967, assigned to Scientific Atlanta, andherein entirely incorporated by reference.

FIG. 9 is a screen diagram of an example IPG screen 900 that is used toillustrate how a user can configure a PVR channel. Assume the user hasdecided that he or she wants to record the Barney program (in additionto other Barney programs), which begins at 7:00 a.m. and runs until 7:30a.m. As indicated, the user has highlighted the Barney listing 920 inthe Nickelodeon channel 220 scheduled to begin at 7:00 a.m. The userpresses the record button 390 on the remote control device 380 (FIG.3B), and in response, the example confirm recording screen 1000 isdisplayed, as shown in FIG. 10.

Assume the user has decided to record all episodes of Barney and inaddition, the user has decided that he or she wants to configure a PVRchannel as a Barney channel. By highlighting and selecting the “recordall episodes” option in the options block 1020 of the confirm recordingscreen 1000, the user is presented with the example recording schedulescreen 1100 as shown in FIG. 11. Reviewing the list block 1120 of therecording schedule screen 1100, the user has selected all episodes ofBarney for recording. Preferably, the episodes of Barney for recordingthat will be presented on Saturday, January 19, the current day in thisexample, are listed, as well as other scheduled recorded programs forSaturday, such as the Auburn basketball game as mentioned above. In oneembodiment, the Barney episodes scheduled for recording can be displayedin the list block 1120 for a defined period, such as one day, severaldays, one week, etc. This defined period can be user configurable inother screens prompted by selecting the record options button icon 1122.Continuing with the example, the user has highlighted the Barney episodeshown in the top row of the list block 1120, and has selected the recordoptions button icon 1122. The resulting screen is shown in FIG. 12.

The record options screen 1200 is shown overlaid on a grayed outrecording schedule screen 1100 (FIG. 11), but in other embodiments, therecord options screen 1200 can be displayed independently of therecording schedule screen 1100. The record options screen 1200 includesa record options header 1205, an options block 1220, and a return torecording schedule button icon 1236. The options block 1220 includesnavigation arrow icons 1222, as well as a select button icon 1224. Aswith other screen displays, the user can scroll through the variousoptions by using the navigation arrow buttons 386 of the remote controldevice 380 (FIG. 3B) as suggested by the navigation arrow icons 1222,and the user can make a selection by using the select button 385 of theremote control device 380 as suggested by the select button icon 1224.As shown, the options from the options block 1220 include the option toconfigure a PVR channel. Assume the user has highlighted and selectedthe “configure a PVR channel” option in the options block 1220,resulting in the example PVR channel configure menu screen 1300 as shownin FIG. 13.

The example PVR channel configure menu screen 1300 is a screen where theuser can configure a particular PVR channel to catalog past, current,and/or future recordings based on one or more pre-defined and/or userconfigured categories. The PVR channel configure menu screen 1300includes a header 1305, a display area 1310, navigation arrow icons1322, a select button icon 1324, and a bottom header 1330. The header1305 identifies the PVR channel configuration menu screen 1300. Thedisplay area 1310 displays information corresponding to the highlightedPVR channel selection in the PVR channel list 1320. For example, PVRchannel 302 is highlighted in the PVR channel list 1320, as indicated inthe display area 1310. As shown in the display area 1310, the first linepreferably identifies the highlighted PVR channel, which is entitled,PVR channel 302. The next line in the display area 1310 is entitledcategory, which the user has not yet configured. The bottom line in thedisplay area 1310 instructs the user to press select to configure ahighlighted PVR channel. It will be appreciated by those of ordinaryskill in the art that this display area can be configured in variousforms while being contemplated within the scope of the preferredembodiments. As described above, the PVR channel list 1320 includes alist of configurable PVR channel numbers for channel mapping recordedmedia content. Herein, it will be understood that recorded media content(or media content instances, or similarly, media content instancerecordings) includes media content that is scheduled to be recorded, aswell as media content where recording is in progress or has beencompleted.

In one embodiment, the first listed PVR channel, which is PVR channel301, is grayed out. As described above, this PVR channel will preferablybe used as a default, or miscellaneous channel for recorded mediacontent that does not match a user configured PVR channel. For example,for any recorded media content that does not fall into a configuredcategory (as will be described below), such non-configured, recordedmedia content will fall under the PVR channel 301 entry in an IPGscreen. Accordingly, upon the user being presented with the PVR channelconfigure menu screen 1300 for the first time, the defaulted highlightedchannel available for configuration by the user will preferably be thePVR channel 302. The user can use the navigation arrow icons 1322 andselect button icon 1324 to highlight and select to configure other PVRchannels. For example, the user can navigate to the PVR channel 305 toconfigure that PVR channel out of the default display order. The bottomheader 1330 includes an IPG button icon 1332, a record options buttonicon 1334, and a title channel button icon 1336. For example, the usercan select the “A” button 381 on the remote control device 380 (FIG.3B), and the user will be presented with an IPG screen display. The usercan also select the guide button 391 on the remote control device 380 toaccomplish similar functionality.

By selecting the record options button icon 1334, the user is presentedwith a record options screen, such as that shown in FIG. 12. The titlechannel button icon 1336 enables a user to change the title of the PVRchannel from, for example, PVR channel 302, to a title preferred by theuser, such as a title more descriptive of the category of media contentchannel mapped to the particular PVR channel. As will be describedbelow, since the user is configuring a PVR channel starting from therecord options screen 1200 (FIG. 12), the default title will preferablybe the title of the selected media content instance (for example, theBarney channel). In other embodiments, or when the user initiates PVRchannel configuration from a user settings menu screen, the title of thePVR channel will be the last category configured in a sequence ofcategory screens, as will be described below. Assume the user hasselected the select button icon 1324, which results in the example PVRchannel configuration categories screen 1400 shown in FIG. 14.

The example PVR channel configuration categories screen 1400 has asimilar structure to the PVR channel configure menu screen 1300 (FIG.13). The PVR channel configuration categories screen 1400 includes aheader 1405, a display area 1410, a category choices list 1420, and abottom header 1430. The header 1405 identifies the current screen 1400.The display area 1410 will identify the PVR channel under configuration,and in addition, will identify the category based on the highlightedchoice from the category choices list 1420. As this particular PVRchannel configuration implementation was initiated by highlighting anepisode of Barney and configuring through a recorded programs listscreen, the PVR channel 302 will default to some association with Barneydepending on the highlighted choice in the category choices list 1420.

For example, since the title choice is highlighted in the categorychoices list 1420, and Barney was the episode that was selected for thePVR channel configuration, the default channel title will be the Barneychannel. Similarly, if the category choice entitled, content service,was highlighted in the category choice list 1420, then the default PVRchannel title would be the Cartoon Network Channel 302. As shown, thecategory choices include title, theme, preference engine, date ofrecording, and content service. Theme choices include comedy, mystery,action, among others. A category choice of preference engine wouldutilize whatever search rule was used by the DHCT resources to scan forand/or select desired media content. Other category choices can bescrolled to using the navigation arrow icons 1422. Other categorychoices can include, but are not limited to, artists, data ofcomposition, time of presentation, display channel, rating (e.g., MotionPictures Artist Association, or MPAA), among others. The bottom header1430 includes an IPG button icon 1432, as well as a back to PVR channelconfiguration menu button icon 1434. Assuming the user has highlightedand selected the title choice from the category choices list 1420, theuser is presented with the example PVR channel configure menu screen1500 shown in FIG. 15.

As noted by the PVR channel list 1520, the PVR channel 302 is nowconfigured as the Barney channel 302. This fact is reflected by the topline in the display area 1510 and the category line, which describes howrecorded media content is channel mapped in this PVR channel. Thus, anyBarney recordings, scheduled or otherwise, will be received into thestorage device 373 (FIG. 3A), with a corresponding listing displayed inan IPG screen grid under the Barney channel 302. Note that in theaforementioned embodiment the functions of recording and PVR channelconfiguration are distinguished, but in other embodiments, the functionsof configuring a PVR channel and recording can be accomplished ascombined functionality. By selecting the IPG button icon 1532, the useris presented with an IPG screen (not shown).

FIG. 16 is a screen diagram of an example IPG screen 1600. Assume theuser has tuned into this IPG screen 1600 after the scheduled recordingsof the Barney episodes have been completed, as shown by the current timeof 11:35 a.m. in the information area 1640, which is after the 7:00,10:00 and 11:00 a.m. episodes of Barney that have been recorded into thestorage device 373 (FIG. 3A) of the DHCT 16 (FIG. 3A). As shown in theexample IPG screen 1600, the three scheduled recordings of the Barneyepisodes have been channel mapped into the Barney channel 302. Byhighlighting the Barney listing 1620, the user can learn more about thatparticular episode and recording information by viewing the detailedfocus area 1610. In other embodiments, additional information may beincluded along with (or in place) the title. Note that in otherembodiments, as describe above, this IPG screen 1600 can be presentedbefore the scheduled recordings are completed using a similar format,except for different block coloring associated with the episodes thathave not been recorded completely to distinguish from blocks associatedwith media content instances where the recordings to the storage device373 (FIG. 3A) are complete.

Another recording process implementation includes providing the userwith the ability to configure his or her own personalized PVR channel(e.g., Michael's channel), and mapping recorded media content under userdirection, such as during a manual recording process. Or in otherembodiments, the user could configure the personalized channel withcategories to search for, with the result that media content withcharacterizing information matching the categories selected would bemapped to the personalized PVR channel.

One implementation for configuring one or more PVR channels was throughthe recording process, as described above. Another mechanism forconfiguring one or more PVR channels is through a user settings menu,such as the example user settings menu screen 1700 shown in FIG. 17. Asshown, the user can select the PVR channel configuration option among aplurality of user setting options. Assuming the user has highlighted andselected the PVR channel configuration option, the user is presentedwith the example PVR channel configure menu screen 1800 shown in FIG.18. The PVR channel configure menu screen 1800 is similar in structureand functionality to the PVR channel configure menu screen 1300described in association with FIG. 13. Continuing with the priorexample, the defaulted highlighted entry in the PVR channel list 1820 isPVR channel 303. Above the PVR channel 303 entry is the prior configuredBarney channel 302. By selecting the select button icon 1824, the useris presented with the example PVR channel configuration categoriesscreen 1900 of FIG. 19.

FIGS. 19-24 will be used to illustrate time-based channel mapping.Assume the user has scrolled to, and highlighted, the time of recordingchoice of the category choices list 1920. As described earlier, thedisplay area 1910 will display the highlighted choice from the categorychoices list 1920, which in this example is time of recording. Byselecting the select button icon 1924, the user is presented withanother example PVR channel configuration categories screen 2000 shownin FIG. 20.

This screen 2000 is for configuring a category that further refines thetime of recording choice selected in the prior screen 1900 (FIG. 19).The subheader 2015 indicates the refined category, which includesrecording time choices. The recording time choices list 2020 includestwo displayed options, including configuring by relative time andconfiguring by absolute time. The bottom header 2030 includes anadditional function from the prior screen 1900, as shown by the backbutton icon 2036, which enables a user to go back to the prior screen1900. Assume the user has highlighted and selected the recording timechoice “relative time,” which results in further refined categoriesdisplayed in an example PVR channel configuration categories screen 2100(FIG. 21). FIG. 21 is a screen diagram of an example PVR channelconfiguration categories screen 2100, which enables further refinementof the relative time choice selected in the prior screen 2000. Thesubheader 2105 identifies the relative time choices list 2120 that ispreferably positioned below it. The relative time choices list 2120includes the past six hours, past seven hours, among other relativetimes in the past and future that are shown and not shown.

By choosing these relative time choices, a PVR channel can be configuredthat channel maps past recorded media content into this category basedon the recording time relative to the current IPG display time (i.e.,time-based channel mapping). For example, if an IPG screen is displayedat 12:00 midnight, all past recorded media content from 6:00 p.m. to12:00 midnight would be channel mapped in the Past Six Hours channel inan IPG screen. Assume the user has highlighted and selected the past sixhours choice of the relevant time choices list 2120, resulting in theexample PVR channel configure menu screen 2200 shown in FIG. 22. Asshown in the example PVR channel configure menu screen 2200, the PVRchannel 303 is newly configured as the Past Six Hours channel 303. Thedisplay area 2210 displays this new title for the PVR channel 303, aswell as the category line which includes time of recording, furtherrefined by relative time, further refined by the past six hours ofrecorded media content.

FIG. 23 is a screen diagram of an example IPG screen 2300. Assume theuser has evoked this screen 2300 on Saturday morning. Recalling from theabove description that Barney was scheduled to be recorded on Saturdaymorning, since Barney was recorded within the past six hours, it will bemapped under the Past Six Hours channel 303, in addition to being mappedin the Barney channel 302. As shown, it is possible that media contentinstances will be mapped under a plurality of PVR configured channels.

FIGS. 24-35 will be used to illustrate content based channel mapping.FIG. 24 is a screen diagram of an example PVR channel configure menuscreen 2400. Assume that the user has entered this screen through theuser setting menu. The PVR channel list 2420 includes the priorconfigured Barney channel 302, as well as the prior configured Past SixHours channel 303. Accordingly, this display screen 2400 defaults to thenext nonconfigured PVR channel entry, which is the PVR channel 304 entryin the PVR channel list 2420. As shown by the display area 2410, nocategory has been configured for PVR channel 304 to date. Assume theuser selects the select button icon 2424, resulting in the example PVRchannel configuration categories screen 2500 illustrated in FIG. 25. Forthis example, assume the user is attempting to configure a PVR channelthat maps recorded content comprising news programming into a Newschannel. Although the user can configure using several differentcategory choices, assume the user begins by configuring by theme. Thus,the user highlights and selects the theme category choice of thecategory choices list 2520, resulting in the example PVR channelconfiguration categories screen 2600 illustrated in FIG. 26, whichincludes categories that are a further refinement of the theme categoryselected in the prior screen 2500.

As noted by the subheader 2615, this screen 2600 presents theme choicesto the user. The theme choices list 2620 includes a plurality of choicesthat can be scrolled through using the navigation arrow icons 2622.Assume in this example the user has selected the news choice in thetheme choices list 2620. As a result, the user is presented with theexample PVR channel configure menu screen 2700 as illustrated in FIG.27. Note that additional screens can be used to further refine the newstheme category choice, for instance by service (e.g., ABC News), as willbe demonstrated below for another PVR channel. As shown by the PVRchannel configure menu screen 2700, the PVR channel 304 is newlyconfigured as the News channel 304. Thus, any recorded media contentwith characterizing information, such as meta data, indicating that itis news content will be channel mapped into an IPG screen under the Newschannel 304. Meta data is data about data. Meta data describes, forexample, how and when and by whom a particular set of data wascollected, and how the data is formatted, as well as othercharacterizing information of the transmitted media content, and can beincluded in the transmission of television signals and/or storedlocally. As the News channel 304 was the last configured PVR channel,the default highlight position in the PVR channel configure menu screen2700 is PVR channel 305 entry.

In the next example, the user will attempt to configure a PVR channelthat channel maps into an IPG screen all recorded media content that hasmeta data indicating that the media content includes Auburn basketballgames. By selecting the PVR channel 305 entry in the example screen2700, the user is presented with the example PVR channel configurationcategories screen 2800 illustrated in FIG. 28.

Although there are several category choices to choose from to configurean Auburn basketball channel, in this example, the user begins byhighlighting and selecting the category choice, theme, from the categorychoice list 2820. In response to that selection, the user is presentedwith the example PVR configuration categories screen 2900 illustrated inFIG. 29. As shown by the subheader 2915, this screen 2900 presentscategories that are a further refinement of the theme category choiceselected in the prior screen 2800. The theme choice the user highlightedin this screen 2900 is sports. By selecting the sports theme choice fromthe theme choices list 2920, the user is presented with the example PVRchannel configuration categories screen 3000 illustrated in FIG. 30.

This screen 3000 presents categories that are a further refinement tothe sports theme choice selected in the prior screen 2900, as suggestedby the subheader 3015 which is entitled, sports options. Since the userdesires to have an Auburn basketball channel, the user highlights andselects the basketball college option in the sports options list 3020,resulting in the example PVR channel configure menu screen 3100illustrated in FIG. 31. As shown in this screen 3100, the PVR channel305 has been configured as the college basketball channel 305, as shownin the PVR channel list 3120. This new configuration, in addition to thecorresponding categories, is also presented in the display area 3110.However, the user desires to have an Auburn basketball channel. In oneembodiment, a further refining category can be presented in a screen(not shown) following the last configuration categories screen 3000.Preferably, the user further refines the currently configured collegebasketball channel by selecting the college basketball channel 305 againand choosing other configuration categories to narrow the types of mediacontent mapped into this channel. One category the user can choose is akeyword category, as described below.

Assume the user has highlighted and selected the college basketballchannel 305 entry in the PVR channel list 3120 resulting in the examplePVR channel configuration categories screen 3200 illustrated in FIG. 32.The user can highlight and select the keyword choice of the categorychoices list 3220, resulting in the example PVR channel configurationcategories screen 3300 illustrated in FIG. 33. In this screen 3300, theuser is instructed in the subheader 3315 to enter a keyword. The usercan enter a keyword into the keyword box 3320. In one implementation,the keyword box 3320 can display letters corresponding to numberedbuttons on the remote control device 380 (FIG. 3B), according towell-known key entering mechanisms. Upon the user selecting the selectbutton icon 3324, the user is preferably presented with a configurationquery screen 3400 preferably overlaid on the PVR channel configurationcategories screen 3300 (FIG. 33), as illustrated in FIG. 34. In otherembodiments, the configuration query screen 3400 can be displayedindependently from the PVR channel configuration categories screen 3300.

The configuration query screen 3400 includes an options block 3420, aswell as select button icon 3424 and navigation arrow icons 3422. Theuser can scroll through a plurality of configuration query options,including whether he or she wants to replace the current category, oradd the keyword as a limitation to the currently configured category,among others. In this example, the user desires an Auburn basketballchannel, thus a logical choice from the option block 3420 is to add thekeyword (e.g., Auburn) as a limitation to the current college basketballcategory by highlighting and then selecting that option, resulting inthe example PVR configure menu screen 3500 illustrated in FIG. 35. Asshown in this screen 3500, the college basketball channel is replacedwith the narrower Auburn basketball channel as indicated in the displayarea 3510 and the PVR channel list 3520. Thus, recorded media contentwith meta data that indicates that the recorded media content has thetitle Barney in it, or has been recorded within the past six hours ofthe current time, or was a News channel that was recorded, or an Auburnbasketball game, will all be channel mapped into an IPG screen accordingto the configured PVR channels shown in the PVR channel list 3520 of theexample screen 3500.

FIG. 36 is a screen diagram of an example IPG screen 3600. As shown bythe information banner 3640, the user in this example is presented withthis IPG screen 3600 at 7:35 p.m. on Saturday, January 19th. Thus, theuser can expect to see completely recorded media content instancelistings in the PVR channels that were previously configured. As shown,the PVR channels that were configured include the Barney channel, thePast Six Hours channel, the News channel, and the Auburn basketballchannel.

As described above, the user, at this point in time, has at his or herdisposal completed recordings for several Barney episodes, an Auburnbasketball game, a news program, and whatever would have been recordedin the past six hours from this time. Looking at the Past Six Hourschannel 303, the Auburn basketball game listing 3621 is highlighted andhas a double arrow icon on the right most side of this listing in theIPG screen 3600 to indicate that the duration of this recording extendsbeyond the hour and one-half duration shown in the IPG screen 3600. Notethat the Auburn basketball channel 305 also includes this Auburn vs.Georgia basketball game as a media content instance listing. The usercan scroll to the right by using the right navigation arrow button 386on the remote control device 380 (FIG. 3B), which would result in theexample IPG screen 3700 shown in FIG. 37. As illustrated in this IPGscreen 3700, all of the listings for the mapped media content instancesin the PVR channels have advanced and their corresponding blocks arepositioned beneath the first column of the time area 3770. Thepositioning beneath the time area 3770 for the listings in the PVRchannels 301, 302, 304, and 305 appear the same as in the example screen3600, except with different time slots presented in the time area 3770.Since the Past Six Hours channel includes more recorded content than theother configured PVR channels, the listings for the Past Six Hourschannels 303 continue to advance as the user scrolls in that row fromthe example screen 3600 to the example screen 3700.

FIG. 38 is a screen diagram of an example IPG screen 3800 that is usedto illustrate media content instance listings for temporarily stored PVRmedia content (i.e., buffered media content instances). As shown here,two buffer PVR channels 321 and 322 are displayed in the IPG screen3800, suggesting that two tuner buffers corresponding to the use of twotuners are employed in this example DHCT 16 (FIG. 3A). Greater or fewernumbers of buffers (and accordingly, greater or fewer numbers of mediacontent instance listings and tuners) can be employed and be withinscope of the preferred embodiments. In one implementation, as mediacontent is buffered into the DHCT 16 (FIG. 3A), the listings for thecorresponding buffered media content are inserted after the last listingcorresponding to the media content instance last buffered, and thus theuser preferably scrolls to the right of the IPG screen 3800 to access,view, and/or permanently record the media content instance correspondingto that listing. Accessing of media content from listings in the PVRbuffer channel for display results in a time-shifted displaypresentation of the associated media content instance. In otherembodiments, the most recent buffered media content instance can have alisting that is inserted at the left hand side of the IPG screen 3800.In one preferred embodiment, the user can highlight and select forpermanent recording, from the IPG screen 3800, any of the media contentinstance listings among the PVR buffer channels 321 and 322. Forexample, assume the user is interested in permanently recording theBrady Bunch episode that has been buffered into PVR buffer 322. In oneimplementation, the user highlights the Brady Bunch listing and pressesthe record button 390 on the remote control device 380 (FIG. 3B),resulting in the displayed episode of the Brady Bunch, as illustrated inFIG. 39.

In one implementation, since the user highlighted and selected the BradyBunch listing at 5:15 p.m. (as shown in the information banner 3840 ofFIG. 38), the display that is presented to the user shows the episode 15minutes past the start of the scheduled presentation. In otherimplementations, the user selecting to record the Brady Bunch from theIPG screen 3800 can be presented with the beginning of that scheduledpresentation. This feature can be user configurable in some embodiments.As shown in FIG. 39, the user is presented with a pause banner 3940,that includes a progress bar 3942 similar to that described for theexample screen 800 in FIG. 8, except this screen 3900 corresponds to atemporary recording. The user is also presented with options to play,record, or return to the IPG screen as shown in the bottom header 3930.Assuming that the user desires to record this buffered episode of theBrady Bunch, the user selects the record button icon 3934, resulting inthe record options screen 4000 illustrated in FIG. 40.

The record options screen 4000 is similar to that described already forFIG. 12. The user is presented with several options shown and not shown,including the option to configure a PVR channel (e.g., a Brady Bunchchannel), or to just return to the IPG screen 3800 (FIG. 38), or theoption to play the current episode of the Brady Bunch. By choosing toreturn to the IPG screen 3800, the Brady Bunch episode will preferablyappear as a listing in the PVR channel 301, which has been described asa default or miscellaneous channel. Note that the Brady Bunch episodeselected was actually buffered hours ago, and thus this recordingprocedure described above simply designates this episode from temporaryto permanent.

The PVR application 377 and the IPG application 394 and associated IPGmodules can be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or acombination thereof. In the preferred embodiment(s), the PVR application377 and the IPG application 394 and associated IPG modules areimplemented in software or firmware that is stored in a memory and thatis executed by a suitable instruction execution system. If implementedin hardware, as in an alternative embodiment, the PVR application 377and the IPG application 394 and associated IPG modules may beimplemented with any or a combination of the following technologies,which are all well known in the art: a discrete logic circuit(s) havinglogic gates for implementing logic functions upon data signals, anapplication specific integrated circuit (ASIC) having appropriatecombinational logic gates, a programmable gate array(s) (PGA), a fieldprogrammable gate array (FPGA), etc.

The PVR application 377 and the IPG application 394 and associated IPGmodules, which comprises an ordered listing of executable instructionsfor implementing logical functions, can be embodied in anycomputer-readable medium for use by or in connection with an instructionexecution system, apparatus, or device, such as a computer-based system,processor-containing system, or other system that can fetch theinstructions from the instruction execution system, apparatus, or deviceand execute the instructions. In the context of this document, a“computer-readable medium” can be any means that can contain, store,communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or inconnection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.The computer readable medium can be, for example but not limited to, anelectronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, orsemiconductor system, apparatus, device, or propagation medium. Morespecific examples (a nonexhaustive list) of the computer-readable mediumwould include the following: an electrical connection (electronic)having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette (magnetic), arandom access memory (RAM) (electronic), a read-only memory (ROM)(electronic), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flashmemory) (electronic), an optical fiber (optical), and a portable compactdisc read-only memory (CDROM) (optical). Note that the computer-readablemedium could even be paper or another suitable medium upon which theprogram is printed, as the program can be electronically captured, viafor instance optical scanning of the paper or other medium, thencompiled, interpreted or otherwise processed in a suitable manner ifnecessary, and then stored in a computer memory.

It should be emphasized that the above-described embodiments of thepresent invention, particularly, any “preferred embodiments” are merelypossible examples of implementations, merely setting forth a clearunderstanding of the principles of the inventions. Many variations andmodifications may be made to the above-described embodiments of theinvention without departing substantially from the spirit of theprinciples of the invention. All such modifications and variations areintended to be included herein within the scope of the disclosure andpresent invention and protected by the following claims.

1. A method for mapping media content information to an interactiveprogram guide displayed on a screen, comprising the steps of: displayingmultiple personal video recording display channels in an interactiveprogram guide, the interactive program guide comprising a plurality ofmedia content listings corresponding to future broadcasts of mediacontent instances and in-progress media content instances; displaying atleast one personal video recording display channel among the multiplepersonal video recording display channels, wherein listings are includedin the at least one personal video recording display channelirrespective of their content; and enabling a user to configure at leastone of the personal video recording display channels based on a firstselectable category and a second selectable category that filters outone or more media content instances associated with the first selectablecategory and providing each of the first selectable category and thesecond selectable category in a respective displayed selectable list. 2.The method of claim 1, wherein the media content instance recordingsinclude scheduled recordings to be downloaded to the storage device. 3.The method of claim 1, wherein the media content instance recordingsinclude permanent recordings downloaded to the storage device.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the media content instance recordings includetemporary recordings downloaded at least in part to the storage device.5. The method of claim 1, wherein the media content instance listingsinclude titles of the media content instance recordings.
 6. The methodof claim 1, wherein the first selectable category and the secondselectable category each includes at least one of artist, title, theme,date of composition, time of broadcast, display channel, service, motionpicture artists association rating, time of recording, search rules,preference engine rules, tuner buffer, and user configuration, whereinthe user configuration option provides the user the ability to create acategory and use that category as a keyword search for futurerecordings.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step ofenabling the user to configure a time area display in the interactiveprogram guide as at least one of a scheduled recorded duration, anactual recorded duration, a grayed out area, a blank area, a tickerbanner, an index alphanumeric, and by a time banner that is in real-timesynchronization with broadcast media content instances from otherdisplay channels of the interactive program guide.
 8. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising the steps of enabling a user to configureone or more of the multiple personal video recording display channelsfor content-specific listings.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein thelistings corresponding to the at least one personal video recordingdisplay channel correspond to content recorded over a predetermined timeperiod.
 10. The method of claim 8, wherein the listings corresponding tothe at least one personal video recording display channel correspond tocontent recorded to a time shift buffer comprising recorded unscheduledmedia content.
 11. The method of claim 8, wherein the listingscorresponding to the at least one personal video recording displaychannel correspond to media content instances that have characterizinginformation not matching any of the one or more personal video recordingdisplay channels corresponding to the content-specific listings.
 12. Themethod of claim 11, wherein the characterizing information includes metadata.